We get it: Small budgets and that one guy in HR who swears he took an instructional design course in college might sway you to get the job done in-house. And at times, it might even be adequate for less-important training or quick-fire leadership tips. But sometimes, trying to develop instructional design and training in-house could be an epic fail.

How do you know when you can go it alone and when it’s time to call in the pros? Check your needs against our list. If you answer “yes” to any of the following statements, it’s time to ditch the DIY stuff and hire an educated, experienced, and innovative instructional designer for your next training module.

It’s called the “Fear of Missing Out,” or FOMO. It’s that feeling you get when you haven’t checked into Facebook or you RSVP to that event, even if you don’t really want to go. It’s what keeps you scrolling through pictures on Instagram or checking Twitter every five minutes. It’s the sense that if you don’t check in almost constantly, you’re missing out on something amazing.

Of course, we know that not every status update is a gem and every picture posted isn’t Picasso, but it’s not the actual content that keeps us glued; it’s the delivery method. Social media sites use specific updating tactics and strategies that keep you checking in often. It’s bad news for your data plan, but if you can harness the strategy for eLearning, it’s good news for your training strategy.

The Power of Notifications

One of the ways Facebook, iMessage, and Instagram keep you checking and rechecking is that they offer clear notifications for when something changes on your feed. New picture posted? Notification. Someone tagged you? Notification. These notifications keep the app or site fresh in your mind, so it’s hard to navigate away.

Notifications can become a powerful tool in mobile learning. By letting users know when another person has signed in and completed a module, or how long it’s been since their last session, you trigger that fear of missing out and engineer a response to check in and interact with the module again.

Letting Learners Lead

Think about the last time you downloaded a game onto your phone. Chances are that the game gave you a few quick tips to get going, but then you’re left on your own to figure out the game play strategy, controls, and capabilities.

Now, contrast that to eLearning. Do you force users through the same experience? Do your learners have time to test, experiment, and try the module out for themselves? As it turns out, a comprehensive user experience may not be as addictive as one that encourages learners to try for themselves. That’s they kind of experience that keeps learners wanting to come back and master different levels, achieve goals, and find out how to use the module.

Building Anticipation

A little bit of anticipation–or even anxiety–is a surefire way to build FOMO. That’s because when people fear that their friends are doing something cool or that everyone’s talking about the latest trending topic, they want to hop online and get involved.

It’s OK to build a little bit of suspense into your learning modules, especially when they contain game-like elements. Don’t show all of your cards at once: Instead, let learners build their learning experiences by trying new things, making mistakes, and moving onto new chapters and sections as they go. Instead of flat learning trajectory, learners experience one that is multidimensional and tailored to their specific learning styles.

Giving Instant Feedback

When you send a text message and get one in return, it floods your brain with dopamine. It’s the satisfaction of instant gratification, and it’s hard to get more instant than instant messaging. We love our smartphones and computers because they move quickly. From posting pictures to sending comments, liking, and searching, FOMO occurs when you lose access to your quick source of constant information.

When building eLearning modules, remember that instant feedback is a powerful tool to keep users on the right track and motivated to learn. Instead of floundering and wondering how they’re doing, they know exactly where they excel and where improvement is needed.

Whether or not FOMO is a good thing in social media is up to you; but in eLearning, FOMO is a definite motivator. By building in the anticipation and fear that everyone else is getting to experience something awesome, it’s possible to design true learning addicts from even the most casual learners.

You’ve probably heard the story about the turkeys that go to the flying convention, where they learn to soar like eagles. Of course, after the convention, all the turkeys turn around and walk home.

It’s a poignant metaphor for instructional design. What good are beautifully designed eLearning modules if learners forget what they’ve experienced the moment class is over? It’s through the design of programs and modules that learners internalize information deeply enough to actually change their behavior. Understanding how design is linked to learner retention can help you avoid the “turkey effect” during (and after) training.

You’ve probably heard of the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have other do to you. Basically, the Golden Rule tells you to treat people the way that you’d like to be treated. There’s a problem, though.

What if people don’t want to be treated like you?

Every individual is just that–an individual. That means that applying the same experience, be it eLearning, management, or just daily interactions, to everyone you work with may be a disservice to different people. You might think you’re applying to Golden Rule, but learners and colleagues are wishing you’d treat them differently.

Perhaps the Golden Rule isn’t to treat people the way you’d like to be treated, but to treat people the way they want to be treated.

In order to achieve this, it’s important to understand the four interaction styles. Most–if not all–the people you come in contact with can fit into one of the four following categories, allowing you to toggle the way you work, talk, and interact with them.

The Analytical

An analytical person operates with facts and logic, rather than ideas and imagination. They want hard numbers, and won’t really make a move until the payoff is absolutely sure. Rather than come up with ideas, the analytical prefer to ask questions and form hypotheses, acting in a cautious and careful way. When interacting with an analytical type, it’s important to bring hard facts and clear numbers to support your ideas.

The Driver

The person who is all about results can be considered a driver. Drivers make quick decisions and thrive on fast environments and tons of competition. They’re definitely considered extroverts and are the ones who take action. Because of this, working with drivers means to be able to show results and execute quickly–or risk getting steamrolled along the way.

The Amiable

There are people that can be considered real team players. Whether it’s making sure everyone’s included or participating in conflict management, the amiable type prefers to be a peacemaker. Amiable workers know that everyone does their best when relying on and working with one another, so they make great team leaders. They are sometimes quiet, but endlessly patient, so they operate best where they can solve problems and keep everyone on track.

The Expressive

Sometimes known as the dreamers of the interactive styles, the expressives are those who love to brainstorm, come up with new ideas, and look at the big picture. And, not only do they get excited about their lofty projects, they’re able to get other people excited about new ideas, too. This means expressive types and invaluable as motivators and taking initiative to start something new.

Getting to know your own interaction type is just as important as getting to know the types of those you work with. Once you understand how you prefer to interact with your team, you can adjust your style to treat people the way they want to be treated–whether or not it’s the same as your preferences.

Let us know which interaction style you most relate to in the comments below.

It’s the Holy Grail for L&D professionals: that moment when learners go from passive participants to involved champions because they had an “aha” moment. The “aha” moment is a much-sought after, often-misunderstood facet of training, but it doesn’t have to be a slippery, illusive concept. By taking certain steps, it’s possible to engineer that lightbulb moment for learners to suddenly grasp new concepts and allow them to change their behavior.

You did the research. You created the content. You even got people to take your course. But it still wasn’t a success. Forgetful learners, unenthused managers, and a lack of engagement caused your training session to fall flat.

The verdict is in, and it looks like HTML5 has officially dethroned Flash as development language of choice. Unfortunately, if you developed your eLearning in Flash, that can leave much of your current courseware and eLearning modules out of date and incompatible with many of your learners’ devices. Read More

Obviously, we at ELM have a pretty vested interest in eLearning: it’s what we do. But just because we’re champions of putting your training online, improving learner interaction, and increasing memory retention doesn’t mean we think eLearning is a one-size-fits-all solution to training. In fact, many times eLearning is enhanced by the use of instructor-led training. Still, instructor-led training isn’t always a perfect solution either. Our instructional designers tell us when to deploy eLearning, and when face-to-face training is the better option.

At eLearning Mind, we believe in better ideas created around even better solutions. It’s part of our culture. Through the years, we’ve morphed from a small eLearning development team into a full-service creative eLearning agency . Today, we’re a 30+ team of intellectually creative individuals who are eager to solve your learning and development challenges. We’re ready to put our minds to work for you.

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